Snow Hill platform reopening plans

Reinstatement of Birmingham Snow Hill’s Platform 4 could increase the station’s footfall by 127,000 per year. Advantages would include creating capacity for extra direct trains to London, according to sub-national transport body Midlands Connect.

Snow Hill incorporated four platforms when it opened in 1987, on the site of the Great Western Railway station that had closed in 1972. However, Platform 4 was later repurposed to act as the terminus of the city’s tramway system from 1999. It has been redundant since the West Midlands Metro’s city centre extension opened in 2016.

Shadow Rail Minister Tan Dhesi, who supports the reopening, was due to visit Birmingham on November 11 (after this issue of RAIL went to press) to take part in a Midlands Connect ‘roundtable’ event.

“The reinstating of Platform 4 could benefit so many workers in Birmingham and London, so it’s essential we get it up and running,” said Midlands Connect’s Senior Rail Programme Manager Andy Clark.